Chimpanzees and “Personhood” Rights

Do you believe chimpanzees deserve “personhood” rights and all that comes with those rights?

Well apparently some do. And time and money is being spent in New York to answer this question.

According to an article in the UK’s Guardian “representatives for two chimpanzees argued before a New York judge on Wednesday, in the first hearing of its kind over their “personhood” rights and freedom from a research institution.”

The group representing the chimpanzees is Nonhuman Rights Projects. Their attorney argued in front of a New York judge that “the apes are unlawfully imprisoned and that the court should relieve them. They are autonomous and self-determining beings, he argued, and therefore deserve the right to bodily liberty.”

Do you agree with him?

Really, are we going to start down this slippery road?

What animals will they next try to say deserve “personhood”? Whales, dolphins and elephants.

Oh wait, that is what they are targeting next.

My bad.

What problems could this bring to our society?

Would this group say that babies in the womb early in the pregnancy should be given “personhood” rights?

An assistant attorney general for New York, Christopher Coulston argued that this case could “set a bad precedent on animal rights, opening the possibility of court cases on the rights of zoo animals or even pets.”

Now this may surprise you, it did me.

There was a recent Gallup poll which found that almost a third of Americans support the idea of animals having the same rights and protections as humans.

By the way the chimpanzees did not appear in court.

We do have a duty to take care of animals, but does this take it too far?

Your thoughts?

Let’s discuss this tomorrow (Thursday) on my show The Live with Renk show, which airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon, to let me know your thoughts at (269) 441-9595.

Or please feel free to start a discussion and write your thoughts in the comment section.